An effective ambulance service constitutes much more than an immediate response to eventualities such as road accidents and a patient transportation system, according to a senior official of the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) Ambulance Service.
Dr Nick Castle, assistant executive director and head of Professions at the HMC Ambulance Service, made the observation during a presentation at the Qatar Transport Safety Forum, held in Doha recently.
The senior health professional explained that the ambulance service performed a number of essential and vital duties such as saving lives, minimising the suffering of victims and patients, preventing further injuries to an accident victim and his/her eventual transportation to a hospital.
An effective ambulance service provides complete care for a patient in the event of an emergency, Dr Castle said, noting that the use of traction splints reduces the possibility of a patient’s death as well as loss of limbs from 70% to 10%.
If not properly handled, there is a possibility of a patient losing one-third of his/her blood from a fractured femur, he pointed out.
Dr Castle observed that it was a big advantage for people to have a common number (999) to access all emergency services. “Each call made to the number is properly routed to the right place and customers in Qatar are always receiving the right service in the shortest possible time,” he said, adding that residents here are fortunate to have an effective emergency services call centre.
Further, the services provided by the ambulance department in Qatar were rated among the best of their kind, said Dr Castle, comparing it with the services offered in places such as the UK and US.
He also explained how some countries have failed in providing adequate ambulance services to their people due to lack of proper co-ordination between some of the departments involved.
According to a study conducted over the last year, the Ambulance Service received most calls (30) in the one hour starting from 10am. There were usually up to 28 calls between 12noon and 1pm and up to 25 calls between 10pm and 11pm. The lowest number of calls are usually recorded between 3am and 4am (3), it was informed.